Submit Article

If you would like to submit an article, click the button below.

Navigation

<-- Back to Current Category

What to Do about Poverty

By: Corbin M. Wright, Fri Dec 9th, 2005 08:09:09 PM

A SOLUTION FOR EMPLOYMENT PROBLEMS AS WORK TENDS TO DISAPPEAR

I know that with globalization the future looks brighter and brighter for many people: But will many people also be left behind in this expanding economy? I know that with technology expanding as it is, many of the jobs that required more human effort are disappearing while other types of jobs that involve more technical expertise are being created. Now do the jobs created by this expanding technology compensate for the loss of jobs in the non-tech sector, considering also the expanding population around the world? Two problems arise. One is that those who lose theirs jobs need more education, assuming they can be retrained, to attain those jobs that are being created by this new technology, and this new technology is expanding at such an accelerated pace that I wonder whether this reeducation can really keep up with this technological expansion. And secondly, if one can find employment or if there are no ethnic conflicts or natural disasters to interfere with job opportunities, the non-tech sector's remuneration level would probably be lowered because of its new supporting service function to a point whereby many would need a second or third job to make livable ends meet. Therefore you'll have those growing with globalization while I believe there will be many who will not be able to keep up within this movement. What can be done about this?

To provide more employment for individuals, you could re-engineer the workweek by providing shorter hours for those already working, thus allowing more workers to be employed to keep up with the productivity. Financially you could spread the profitability of the enterprise more evenly between the workers and management so everyone could then have a livable standard of remuneration. Of course in evening out the remuneration levels, one might feel the motivating factor for improving productivity would lessen. But perhaps the motivating factor for this should be something else other than profit, such as job significance. This approach could also lessen excessive stress that can accumulate on the job. Tips on how one can be more frugal with ones expenses, as expressed in my report on How to become Financially Independent, can also be practiced to aid one in developing a more livable standard of life.

If by chance you might not be able to find a job no matter how hard you try you should not become embarrassed by this situation because this is how life oftentimes is and many are probably in the same boat. But the job one should eventually get, if he or she gets one, should be one whereby the employee finds societal significance in his or her employment, otherwise the motivation for working would tend to be quite unfulfilling and lead to much more restlessness and uncreativity in his or her job. An answer to this dilemma could be a procedure, which is set up whereby some financially well-off families could adopt some families that are not so financially well off. And this policy should be considered on a worldwide basis, sometimes crossing national boundaries, but always with an accountability procedure in place. Of course, this process could be either temporary or permanent depending upon the state of the adoptee's employment situation. In doing this though, the cost would have to be the loss of much of the adoptee´s privacy, and much of the time needed by the adoptors to supervise the distribution of financial aid to the adoptees in an accountable fashion. But since work is the vehicle by which individuals do develop a self-worth, however, the adoptees could engage in volunteer work that they find meaningful, and perhaps this could eventually lead them to specific job opportunities, while the adoptors are financially supporting them. If a procedure like this is not adopted, much talent is going to be lost to society, because those individuals struggling financially will be spending all of their time trying to survive, which sometimes can develop into some limited creativity, but not to the extent that creativity could be developed if you didn't have to struggle exclusively just to survive. If this plan can not be adopted, than governments would have to be the adoptors and give a guaranteed livable wage to everyone who hasn't one, because work for pay as we know it will continue to be less and less. And the more political stability you have around the world, the more effective this program can be.

Poverty, however, is not only Material Poverty, but more importantly, Spiritual Poverty as well.

About the author: Corbin Melvin Wright was born in New York City in 1931, grew up on Long Island, graduated from Roanoke College in Virginia with a BA in Political Science, and from New York Theological Seminary with a Masters in Religious Education. He worked as an accountant in NYC for 21 yrs. and as an English teacher and Christian counselor in Argentina for 23 years. He was married twice, widowed once, & has no children, E-mail address (corbinwr@yahoo.com).

Sign In